


All around me are familiar faces.

by OTPGirl



Series: Black and White and Red all over. [1]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: FUCK, M/M, Major Character Death (temporary), This is the beginning of a lovely new series, Wilbur is Wiley, Wiley is a dick, black and white
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27536377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OTPGirl/pseuds/OTPGirl
Summary: "An arm, covered in green fur with sharp claws at the end, slowly emerges from the swirling lights of the portal. Followed by another. And another. And another.“Howie!” Xander cries out as he springs into motion. He lunges towards Howard, hoping to make it in time to save him from being dragged back into the Black and White. Howard turns his head and lets out a terrified scream. Xander’s hand touches Howard’s arm and he uses all his strength and momentum to push him out of the way."Xander saved Howard from being dragged back into the Black and White, but in doing so sacrifices his own life.
Relationships: Xander Lee/John McNamara
Series: Black and White and Red all over. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012728
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	All around me are familiar faces.

As Xander watches the bomb be sent into the portal with President Goodman and Private Herbert, he can’t help but feel a sinking feeling of dread. Something is going to go wrong. He just knows it. But he can’t figure out what it could possibly be. If John were still here, he would know. He’d figure it out and stop it, whatever it is. 

The silence that greets them once the bomb is out of sight and the count down ends is deafening. He strains his ears, trying to hear an explosion or anything. But no sound comes. 

“Did it go off? Where’s the explosion?” Howard speaks, voicing what all three of them are thinking. “Shouldn’t we be hearing an explosion?” He looks frantically between the two P.E.I.P agents, but neither of them have an answer for him. Howard moves closer to the portal, as if the issue could be that he’s too far away to hear the explosion. 

“Uh, oh, Mr. Presi-wezz.” Wigglys voice echos throughout the room, the origin seeming to come from deeper within P.E.I.P. “It seems you’ve misplaced your bomby-wom. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll turn up somewhere.” Howard turns his back to the portal, eyes frantically searching the room, looking for any sight of Wiggly.

“What, what does he mean?” He asks Private Herbert but doesn’t even give him a chance to answer before screaming into the air. “What do you mean, you son of a bitch?”

Xander sees Private Herbert hold his finger up to his ear, his shoulders growing tense as he listens to the information coming from the other end of the radio. He clears his throat, drawing Howard’s attention to him. The president’s eyes are wide and almost crazy looking. 

The Private talks, but Xander doesn’t really listen to what he’s saying. Something, he’s not sure what, but something draws his attention to the portal. An arm, covered in green fur with sharp claws at the end, slowly emerges from the swirling lights of the portal. Followed by another. And another. And another. 

“Howie!” Xander cries out as he springs into motion. He lunges towards Howard, hoping to make it in time to save him from being dragged back into the Black and White. Howard turns his head and lets out a terrified scream. Xander’s hand touches Howard’s arm and he uses all his strength and momentum to push him out of the way. 

Howard falls to the ground, and the claws dig into Xander’s shirt and arm. They yank him into the portal, and the last thing he sees of his dimension is Howard reaching out to Xander and Private Herbert watching in horror, knowing there’s nothing he can do to help Xander.

Going into the Black and White is like jumping into freezing cold water. Your entire system is given a shock, you're disoriented, you don’t know which way is up and which way down. If it weren’t for the two pairs of arms holding his arms, he’s sure he’d fall away into nothingness.

Xander hears the familiar sound of the portal shutting down behind him. No matter what happens to him, the President is okay. 

“Welcome back Howi-” A vaguely familiar voice speaks, but it’s cut off when it stops in front of him. Xander forces his head up, his chest heaving as he takes quick breaths. He sees Colonel Wilbur Cross in front of him, anger twisted across his face. 

No, that’s not possible. Wilbur… Wilbur’s dead. He died thirteen years ago. No one can survive in the Black and White without the suit. Xander only met Wilbur once, but he’s seen pictures. The picture they used at his funeral as they buried an empty casket. The pictures that John keeps up in their living room, keeping them up so that Wilbur never truly died. 

“Cross? How is this-” Xander doesn’t get to finish his question. He knocks Xander to the side, grabbing one of the Sniggles by the front of its shirt. He pulls the creature, that looks strangely like the President, close to his face. 

“That’s not Goodman, you idiot!” Spit lands on the creatures face as Wilbur all but growls. The Sniggle doesn’t get to defend itself, Cross pulls back a fist and punches it across the face. The Sniggle falls to the floor, letting out a distressed sound. Wilbur stands up straight, smoothing his hair back before turning to face Xander with a tight smile. 

“Sorry about that. Can’t get reliable help these days.” Wilbur’s anger is visible underneath the surface of his words. “Now, I just have one question for you, and it should be an easy one to answer. Who are you?” Xander opens his mouth to answer, but a voice off to his right speaks before he can.

“He’s just a low-level scientist. No one important, not to you, Wilbur.” Both men turn their heads to see John, his arms crossed over his chest. Xander never thought he’d see his husband again, so seeing him alive shocks him. A smile breaks out across his face, and if it weren’t for the one Sniggle still holding his arm, he’d run across the space between them and hold him tight, never letting him go. 

“I told you, John, Wilbur is gone. Only Wiley is left. And if he’s no one, then I’m sure you won’t mind if I feed him to the Sniggles. It’s been so long since they had fresh meat, they’re positively ravenous.” The Sniggle holding Xander seems to enjoy that thought. Xander tries to jerk away from the creature, but that only causes it’s claws to dig into this skin. He hisses at the pain that radiates down his arm. 

“Don’t.” John’s voice wavers ever so slightly, and Wilb- Wiley smirks cruelly. 

“That’s what I thought. Now, who is he to you? And don’t lie to me, Johnny. I would hate for the beginning of our relationship to be built on lies, dear.” 

“John.” Xander speaks for the first time since his husband appeared, and the man in question turns his head to look at him. John’s an expert at hiding his emotion. He has to be to have become one of the youngest Generals in U.S History. But that’s never stopped Xander from being able to what he’s feeling. 

He’s terrified. 

“Tick Tock Johnny.” John looks at Wiley as he speaks. 

“He’s my husband.” John’s voice could barely be considered a whisper. 

“He’s your what?” Wiley raises his voice, perhaps a bit louder than absolutely necessary. Several more Sniggles appear, much closer than Xander is comfortable with considering the threat Wilbur just made. 

John apparently feels the same way. He takes several steps forward, only stopping when he realizes that with every step he takes towards Wiley, the Sniggles move towards Xander. 

“He’s my husband!” John yells, and Wiley freezes. In fact, everything seems to freeze. Wiley, the Sniggles, time itself. 

“Really.” Wiley doesn’t say the word, he breathes it. With a wave of his hand, the Sniggles vanish. Wiley gets up close to Xander, eyes roaming over him, taking in everything he can see. “So, this is my replacement.” Venom drips from his words. 

“No! Wil, he’s not- I didn’t replace you.” John is clearly begging. He needs Wiley not to see Xander as a threat. 

“Do you love him?” John doesn’t answer, just staring at Wiley, his mouth hanging open uselessly, his breathing heavy. What does he say? What can he say? Either he says he does and enrages Wiley, or he says he doesn’t, and he finds out if Wiley really can tell when he lies, and he pisses Wiley off. Either way, Wiley’s going to be mad, and Xander’s more than likely going to pay for it. 

Wiley seems to take John’s prolonged silence as an answer. He chuckles humorously and shakes his once. He raises his left hand, John’s eyes following every little movement. Wiley snaps his fingers, and a loud, echoing crack comes from Xander’s direction. John’s eyes snap over to Xander. 

His head is twisted to the side at a weird angle. His eyes, while open, are lifeless. He sways for a second, only a second, before collapsing. He doesn’t fall forward, he doesn’t fall backward, he falls straight down, just like a marionette whose strings were just cut. 

“Xander!” John runs as fast as he can to close the distance between them. He’s on his knees next to the lifeless body of his husband in an instant. He hooks his arms underneath Xander's back and pulls him up towards his chest, cradling his body as his head lulls back. 

“Xander. Xander, please.” Tears well up in his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall, not in front of Wiley. A heavy hand presses down on John’s shoulder, and he turns his head. Wiley is standing over him, a cruel smirk on his lips. “You didn’t have to do this.” 

“Maybe not. But I wanted to.” Wiley turns and walks away, his hand leaving John’s shoulder. Without looking back over his shoulder, he waves his hand. 

Xander sits up, gasping as life is returned to his body. John almost drops Xander but just barely manages not to. One of John’s hands comes up to Xander’s chest, feeling his heart beating. 

“Oh my god, Xander?” John can’t truly believe this, even though he can feel Xander’s heart beating beneath his hand, can feel Xander’s breath against his cheek.

“What just happened? My- my neck snapped, I thought I was dead.” John’s arm around his back tightens, pulling him a bit closer. 

“You were.” Wiley says matter of factly. His back is still turned to them, hand still raised. “Welcome to the Black and White boys. Your lives are mine to play with till the end of time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Hell! Glad you could join me.
> 
> Come scream at me on Tumblr:  
> IjustwantJohnMcNamaratobehappyok


End file.
